#state university

[everypigeondeserveslove]

Love this guy attending State University in Nature Made ad

#State University

[wgm-beautiful-world]

MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY

[jhsharman]

directions please

[newsbrand]

Angel Reese is on fire 🔥

[artenvena]

Brian Alfred

1974, Pensilvania, Estados Unidos Estudios: MFA Yale University. Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, BFA Pennsylvania State University. Exposiciones: Miles McEnery Gallery, Nueva York. Sandroni Rey Gallery. Maz Protech Gallery. Solomon R. Guggenehim Museum. Premios: Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Award, Penn State Alumni Achievement Award, New York Foundation of the Arts Inspiration Award y dos veces ganador del Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant recipient. Brian Alfred es un artista muy polifacético, que ha realizado animaciones, música, pinturas, etc. Su obra se centra entorno al paisaje urbano, compuesto por formas planas y geométricas, que otorgan gran importancia a la luz ambiental y la gama de colores.

http://brianalfred.net

[vintagecamping]

That’s one heck of a view!

Lakeside camping at Waterton Lakes, National Park in Alberta Canada 1920

James Willard Schultz Photograph (1859-1947)  

[adiscontinuedblogyo]

My College Story

After I graduated high school, I moved into a dorm with my best friend at a state university with the intention of majoring in psychology and later going on to become a marriage and family therapist. It was what I would tell people all throughout high school that I wanted to do, but things didn’t go as planned.

I was accepted into that state university on conditional admission. They told me I had to receive a 3.0 GPA in my classes by the end of my first semester or I’d be on academic probation during the second semester. What the actual fuck, right? Because any other student not conditionally admitted to the university wouldn’t have been placed on academic probation if they got a 2.9 GPA so why would I have been?

Anyway, to make a long story short, I met a guy and spent more time with him than I did on my coursework and ended up getting academically dismissed at the end of the semester for my horrible grades.

I ended up going back to the state university in the spring of 2014 after taking the entire year of 2013 off from school. I even got good enough grades that I would have been able to return in the fall but unfortunately, there was a mishap in the financial aid department or I forgot to submit a document or whatever, but I ended up not being able to return because my tuition wasn’t paid. They even blocked me from accessing my transcripts, so I wouldn’t have been able to send them to another university if I had wanted to transfer somewhere else. Seriously? This school only cares about the money, not the success of their students. I’m sure it’s like this at other schools too and I realized…

I DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT!

2013 and ‘14 were really low points in my life. Dark times, y'all. I ended up getting accepted into my local community college (the one I’m currently attending) in the spring of 2016 as a business administration major. I was working a job I absolutely hated at the time. By the time I quit that job mid-semester, I was so emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually drained that I completely lost myself. I realize now that I had to lose myself because if I hadn’t, I never would have found myself. I ended up with Ds and Fs in every single one of my classes. Then something beautiful happened. I DIDN’T GET DISMISSED FROM THE COLLEGE. I DIDN’T EVEN GET PLACED ON ACADEMIC PROBATION!

This college cared about my success. THEY GAVE ME A SECOND CHANCE! At the end of the spring semester, I had an overall GPA of 0.5. At the end of the fall semester where I had changed my program of study to gen. ed., I had raised that overall GPA to 2.5! I took 5 classes and got As in 3 of them and Bs in the other 2. I had a semester GPA of 3.538. I even made the Dean’s List. I was so freakin’ proud of myself. I started the job I’m currently working in November of 2016 and decided to take the spring 2017 semester off to get adjusted to my new schedule at work, so that what happened in the spring of 2016 wouldn’t happen again. When I returned in the fall of 2017, I took 3 classes and got As in 2 of them and a B in the other. My semester GPA was 3.667 and my overall GPA had been raised to 2.929.

I ended up taking the ENTIRE year of 2018 off from college because I was working SO MUCH OVERTIME at my job. I mean, I was working an 8 hour shift 6-7 days a week practically EVERY SINGLE WEEK! It was exhausting, it was miserable, and it didn’t give me much time for college. I needed my job to pay my tuition and had just received a $2 pay increase and knew I wouldn’t find another job with better hours that had the same pay, so I stayed with my job. During the fall 2017 semester, I was working overtime and it was such a struggle to keep up with my homework. I remember actually crying IN THE MIDDLE OF WORK because I had a high point assignment due in my mass comm class that week and my boss had just told me I had to work BOTH days that weekend. I ended up withdrawing from that class because I didn’t have the adequate amount of time to dedicate to it.

When January of this year came around, I was just so fucking sick and tired of working so much that when I heard about the opening in the weekend shift, I jumped on the chance to take it. When I talked to my supervisor about switching shifts, I was prepared to do whatever it took to make my education a priority if she had said no. I would’ve moved to a weekend shift in another department or switched jobs entirely. I was so determined! I felt such immense joy and excitement when she said I could switch to weekend shift.

I had to make a few sacrifices when I moved to the weekend shift though. I had to give up the quality lab position I had grown to love SO MUCH and I had to go from seeing the guy I like 5-7 days a week, to just 1. AND I DIDN’T EVEN GET TO SEE HIM SUNDAY NIGHT AT WORK THIS WEEK BECAUSE HE WASN’T THERE AND I JUST MISS HIM SO MUCH. THERE’S LIKE THIS ACHE IN MY CHEST WHENEVER I THINK ABOUT HIM AND IT’S AWFUL.

I’ve had absolutely no problems adjusting to the weekend shift. I mean, doing the same repetitive tasks over and over again for the duration of a 12 hour shift is definitely a bit boring and makes the night go by slower but it’s manageable and when I leave work Monday morning, I look back and it seems like the weekend of work just flew by. My 4 day weekends even seem to go slow! One of my coworkers asked me the other day if I’d rather do lab work or operate a machine and he seemed so shocked whenever I said I’d rather do lab work because I gave that job up to become a machine operator on the weekends. One of my coworkers was getting trained to replace me in the lab at work Sunday night and I found myself feeling a bit sad and jealous of her, haha. So yeah, I’m not having any problems with my actual shift change but I’m struggling a bit to say goodbye to the only two things I liked about my job. Although, I don’t really wanna say goodbye to the guy I like AT ALL. I’m stuck between thinking that if I’m meant to be with him, then it’ll happen when it’s meant to, and thinking that if I don’t say or do anything, then it just won’t happen at all.

I made my education a priority. I put myself first. I made this decision because I was miserable working so much. I don’t regret it. I have the time now to focus on earning a degree and I’m gonna use it. I told everyone in high school that I wanted to be a marriage counselor. I didn’t want to do that at all. I went to a state university because it was the only one that accepted me. That state university only cared about money and was definitely not the right choice for me. I went to a community college and they CARED. I raised my GPA and now I actually have colleges emailing me all the time wanting me to transfer to their schools. AND THEY’RE ACCREDITED COLLEGES TOO! I’m in a much better place in my life than I was 5 years ago.

Today I’m currently working on an Associate’s degree in paralegal studies. I’m definitely very interested in studying law and can’t wait to work in law one day!

If I could go back in time, I’d tell myself not to settle for a university just because it’s the only one that accepted me. I would remind myself that I deserve better than “conditional admission” and that’s it’s totally fine to earn an associate’s degree at a community college, raise my GPA, and then transfer to a college that’s the right fit for me. When I apply to four year universities next year, I’ll be applying to over 10 universities and I’ll find the one that’s the perfect fit for me. I won’t settle for less than I deserve. Not ever again in any aspect of my life.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I appreciate it so much.